INSIGHT: Fracture

Issue 44 | www.fokus.org

Atiba T. Edwards Founder & Chief CuratorAtiba is an engineer focused on making and connecting creative people, nodes, networks and moments.

Shani CohenCuratorShani is a Brooklyn based writer who believes in uniting our diverse communities through art and the power of words.

JoLillian ”Jozi"ZwerdlingCuratorJozi finds inspiration in those who understand timelessness and travel in alternate dimensions.

INSIGHT Magazine showcases and archives emerging contemporary artists from all art disciplines. FOKUS produces this magazine to provide insight into people who are creating art, traditional and non-traditional, in their own way.

Fracture ContributorsTom Acevedo • Taylor Allen • Adele Ambrose • Francesca Aspromonte • Henry Burgos • Atiba T. Edwards • Chloe Henderson • Jordan Kifer • Keith Landrum • The Brooklyn Native • Toby Penney • Christine Stoddard • Jacqui War • Jozi Zwerdling

Questions, comments and contributions can be sent to [email protected] view older issues of INSIGHT, visit www.fokus.org/insight.

Copyright © 2015. INSIGHT (ISSN 2164-7771) is a publication of FOKUS, Inc. All rights reserved on entire contents. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

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INSIGHT magazineFracture: Contents4 Atiba T. Edwards Your Time is Yours 6 The Brooklyn Native MY City Is No Longer 10 Jacqui War Healing from Fractured Moments14 Francesca Aspromonte The Lost One16 Tom Acevedo Untitled Series19 Christine Stoddard Mermaid Dream in Mourning #320 Jordan Kifer Bedstuy Vibe21 Keith Landrum Series24 Jozi Zwerdling For The Moon: A Triptych26 Henry Burgos Raptures of an Unsettled Conscious Mind30 Chloe Henderson The Fear: Suffocating31 Toby Penney Fracture Series36 Adele Ambrose Scenes from Paris38 Taylor Allen Astronomy

Photography Visual Art Creative Writing Articles

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INSIGHT magazine: Fracture

Your Time is YoursBy Atiba T. Edwards

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I took this photo of “Le Manifeste” was taken while riding a bike through the streets of Montreal, Canada. “Il y aura une place pour chacune des libertés que vous voudrez bien vous accorder” or “A time will come when you can express yourself freely.” Designed by Paprika.

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MY city is no longerBy The Brooklyn Native

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white sugar diseasemy city is no longer our babies melted

Sugar Sphinx

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Close Up Sugar Baby

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Broken Sugar Baby

The Brooklyn Native is a visual artist and poet. Born and raised in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, her calling is to capture the authentic beauty and fleeting preservation of her beloved borough, a place now almost unrecognizable to the Brooklyn native. www.thebrooklynnative.com

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Healing from Fractured Momentsby Jacqui War

Broken. Arcylic on Canvas, 18 x 24 in.

“Broken” is a piece that allowed me to see the beauty of heartbreak when you lose love. It was a piece that allowed for a productive reflection of what those emotions really mean. It’s growth. It’s closure with that part of yourself. The scars are real though.


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Then there are fractures in your life that will remain deep. “The Beast” was a piece dedicated to my brothers and sisters in Central America crossing the U.S/ Mexico Border every day. Leaving their families, their lives, and their roots, to be in a country that often dehumanizes them. My parents are some of those people. The split between a parent and a child is something I can’t even begin to fathom, but it is a reality for those seeking to find a golden dream.

The Beast. Arcylic on Canvas, 18 x 24 in.

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Jacqui Martinez is a Honduran Lenca Artist raised in California and now based in New York. She has been creating since she came out of her mother’s womb. She has lived in adventure because of her art and has traveled to places like Mexico, Africa, Honduras and some U.S. states, making her work more alive and intentional. She is currently attending NYU to receive her masters in Art Education in hopes of implementing new artistic pedagogy for our youth. www.jacquimartinez.carbonmade.com

Pour Me Another. Arcylic on Canvas, 18 x 24 in.

“Pour Me Another” was painted in response to all the protests regarding gay marriage, police brutality, equality and other urgent issues that stem from living under capitalism. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if there was a true riot without organization, just passionate people wanting to see change. Would that alleviate this broken system? Would that create a new world? What causes a true riot? Is passionate chaos the answer we are scared to practice?

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We fly away on a plane--or sneak on dimly lit bus stops

While watching passengers, with shifty eyes and untapped potentialKnowing nowhere is home

Dedicated to melodramatic goodbyesor written letters that will never get sent for lack of real planning

Skewed view of ourselves, we partOr run, depending on who is telling the story

But morning came, and so did endless daysDays spent in silent obsession and more unplanned delays

Didn’t think that I would find you again, so sure that this timeI had missed the boat

Or more fittingly capsized mid thrust

But now I know that there are things that can never be apartAll along we were both holding pieces of the same fractured heart

The Lone Onesby Francesca Aspromonte

Born and raised in New York, Francesca has always loved to write. After graduating from Binghamton University (SUNY) with a B.A. in English, she relocated to California.

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Untitled SeriesBy Tom Acevedo

Thomas Acevedo started painting fine art 5 years ago, splitting his time as a decorative painter. His paintings convey a masculine vulnerability. He challenges the public’s underlying misconceptions of the male figure. www.tomacevedoartstudio.com

Siren’s Song. Arcylic on Canvas, 18 x 24 in.

The following quote is not in my words, but it conveys the principles that I try to carry into each of my works:

“one of the basic principals of art is the absence of lying. It means creating great-er vision and greater sanity. When basic goodness is not expressed what you do is neurotic and destructive. This means that an artist’s production , manifestation, demonstration and performance should be geared to waking people up from their neurosis.” - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.


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The Visitor. Arcylic on Canvas, 24 x 30 in.

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Idle Hands. Arcylic on Canvas, 16 x 22in.


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Christine Stoddard lives in her kingdom by the sea where she edits Quail Bell Magazine and attempts magic. Her experiments have appeared in Cosmo, The New York City Poetry Festival, The Brooklyn Quarterly, and beyond. www.christinestoddard.com

One-third of a mermaid is still a mermaid.

Mermaid Dream in Mourning #3By Christine Stoddard

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Bedstuy Vibeby Jordan Kifer

Jordan is a creative storyteller in NYC, constantly seeking out new ways to share the stories of others through various digital channels. A Michigan native, Jordan currently resides in Brooklyn. www.instagram.com/jordanvkifer


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Seriesby Keith Landrum

Keith Landrum paints, writes, draws, works, and drinks in Chattanooga, TN. His work can be found in various print, small press and online publications.

Heart

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Nothing to Hide


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Suffer

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1. The blood is a calling, skimmed off my knuckle,

milk, to pool underneath my pillow at night,

repository of iron clanging against the roof of my mouth.

When I spit on the sidewalk it is a half promise— there may or may not be something growing rough & alive the next day from the

same location.

The man threw a plastic bottle at the curb. It is litter-

Also a vessel for the seeds bloody hands left pulsing between my teeth. The tide pulled them crunch & aching from my tongue,

Children I may never see or know, carrying my cells as gift,

offering, birth right.

Submarine lowing beneath my reflection on the water.

The blood moon might hold all of this: Relief in the cooling, what it is to take shape/careful in the dark.

A re-turning. An emergence.

Horrifying. Beautiful. Frontal. Glaring.

Raw & drip. Anything else is already dead.

2. Dress in All Black.Pants, jacket, hoodie.

Indigo top. Brown sneakers with the red laces.

-Almost All-Nothing is absolute.

Not even mein New York.

Eat dinner of medjool dates

& almonds;

Spread,leftover salad,

The fragrant oil Tyi made meon Wrists,

ThroatNape.

The juts of bone below the ears.

For The Moon: A Triptychby Jozi Zwerdling

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Jozi Zwerdling hails from the DMV but lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Her passions are working with youth to achieve social justice through education and the arts, collageing and loving as an act of freedom.

Inhale pungent smokeLine my eyes in black.

This much girl might never leave me,though it arrived late.

I only liked the cotton dresses for the comfort,the stiff ones for the attention.

I rubbed dusty holes in my tights,opening windows-

like Spring-but it is Fallin New York.

The moon;a sickle.

crisp, clear, sharpslicing.

3. The Dark Lamppost is a Reference Point:Let go or let gone.

The sun moves swiftly behind the trees.My skin abruptly sunned,

then cooled, like stone,

Hard grey & groundridden.

The brain is different than economics.The heart is not logical.These are truths, yes,

though no, Paul, I am not a secular humanist.

I, magic.I, God Factor.

We are so smugto think we can know anything.

Experiments—crumbs,

cookies for rats,left in a secret gardento stumble & dance

down the crocheted, uneven path.

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Raptures of an Unsettled Conscious Mindby Lost Daimon


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This was my very first sculpture. It portrays cracks, or ruptures, in the areas where we most heavily feel pressure and pain while attempting to comprehend or carry out advice from others. It also portrays the effort to consciously rational-ize and cope with the issue and torment brewing in one’s mind before and after the advice.

There are cracks in the chest over the heart area(affect on our heart and health), by the nose (affect on our breathing), by the mouth(affect on what we speak and how we say it), on the scalp (affect on our peace of mind), and at one of the ears (where the outside advice initially begins, through hearing). Bits and pieces of the remains of the now absent ear lie on the shoulder of the figure as though it deteriorated there, representing the weight on our shoulders (although not too heavy, still present) we feel when in situations that make us feel unsettled or out of balance.

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Muerte Marigoldsby Christine Stoddard


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Henry’s work reflects mind, body, soul and the search to find balance between the three. He frequently creates paintings/sculptures that appear rather surreal. However, they are tied to present societal abuses and the lack of consideration for people and the natural world around us today and throughout history.

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The Fear: Suffocatingby Chloe Henderson

Chloe Henderson is an odd, artsy person from Edinburgh. She creates visual and wearable artwork inspired by stories, fantasies, and mythologies. In her spare time she tames unicorns and swims with mermaids. www.chloehenderson.co.uk

This is a self-portrait that represents my struggle with anxiety and fear. I feel as though my mind has been fractured, and this presents visually as a suffocating tightening. You can’t see the breaking points of a mental illness, but you can see rope wrapping around in a killing hold and cracking into the skin. To me, this is what anxiety feels like.


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Fracture Seriesby Toby Penney

Shaman

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From early on in my art practices I have been drawn to subjects that are often taken for granted by those around me. Abandoned bridges, industrial sites & mines occupied my work a decade ago. Later this interest manifested through the inclusion of many recycled & reclaimed materials into my 2d & 3d works. Today, similarly, I am interested in exploring fleeting time with a common place tool. I create the digital photo collages on my handheld device as I live & work through my day, caring for my little one, painting, exploring, and maintaining a home and family.

The Offering


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I document every day moments with snapshots and later collect them into repre-sentations of that day. I use collaging, layering, double exposure, & photo editing techniques via different applications on my phone to create these images, images that are in a sense a daily log of life. Since adolesence, I have documented my daily activities with both my camera & paint. This is the natural marriage of two practices.

Marks of the Past

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Blurred Memory


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www.tobypenney.com

Duplicity

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Paris past / Paris future...

Scenes from Parisby Adele Ambrose

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Adele Ambrose is a Canadian photographer based in New York. She enjoys exploring the world; meeting new people and documenting the places that channel creativity and inspire mirth. www.tumblr.com/blog/aascenes

Scenes from Paris passé is a series documenting parisian contemporary street art and culture through the eyes of an expat seeking a deeper connection to human-ity.

le rêve américain/parisien: liberty / equality / fraternity/ freedom?

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Astronomyby Taylor Allen

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“Astronomy” is an ongoing personal project exploring the human form and the organic nature of deep space formations.

Taylor Allen is a photographer and digital artist from New Jersey, currently residing in Toronto. www.taylorallen.co | www.instagram.com/taylor

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Thank You for reading INSIGHT: FractureWe hope you enjoyed the work shared with you.

The theme for the next issue is: CRAFTSMANSHIP

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INSIGHT: Fracture